Vassil Girginov

This is the first book to critically examine the relationship between running events in local, national and international welfare policy, their marketing and management, and the resulting social impacts.Drawing on original empirical research, the book presents a series of illustrative case studies, with each chapter containing take-home messages for sport and events managers looking to improve their professional practice. Developing a new theoretical perspective on running events, the book presents data from around the world, including five European countries, the US and China. It covers different types of events, from big city marathons to community park runs, and new types of events such as path and trail runs, night runs, ultra runs, extreme runs and obstacle runs, presenting a typology of running events that will help shape the future analysis of this rapidly growing sector. The book also examines the market for running events, runners’ socio-demographic profiles, the main management and marketing approaches and techniques used by organisers, and the socio-economic impacts of running events, such as the effect on people’s attitudes and behaviours, organisational planning, city promotion and social interactions.Running events are central to sport at all levels, from grassroots to professional, so this book is essential reading for any student, researcher or practitioner working in sport management, sport development, sport policy, the sociology of sport or event studies.

This is the first book to critically examine the relationship between running events in local, national and international welfare policy, their marketing and management, and the resulting social impacts.Drawing on original empirical research, the book presents a series of illustrative case studies, with each chapter containing take-home messages for sport and events managers looking to improve their professional practice. Developing a new theoretical perspective on running events, the book presents data from around the world, including five European countries, the US and China. It covers different types of events, from big city marathons to community park runs, and new types of events such as path and trail runs, night runs, ultra runs, extreme runs and obstacle runs, presenting a typology of running events that will help shape the future analysis of this rapidly growing sector. The book also examines the market for running events, runners’ socio-demographic profiles, the main management and marketing approaches and techniques used by organisers, and the socio-economic impacts of running events, such as the effect on people’s attitudes and behaviours, organisational planning, city promotion and social interactions.Running events are central to sport at all levels, from grassroots to professional, so this book is essential reading for any student, researcher or practitioner working in sport management, sport development, sport policy, the sociology of sport or event studies.

How do Olympic legacies come about? This book offers an alternative approach to the study of Olympic and mega-sport event legacy, challenging how legacy is conceptualised and practised. It shifts the focus from legacy as a retrospective concept concerned with what has been left behind after the Games, to a prospective one interested in actions and interactions stimulated by the Games. The book argues that creating Olympic legacy is a continuing four-stage process involving ‘investing’ (the accumulated common Olympic cultural capital), ‘interpelling’ (forming a trusteeship relationship where one party undertakes to change the capacity of another), ‘developing’ (ensuring participation in interactions and resource development) and ‘codifying’ (documenting, sharing and remembering legacies so they become cultural capital). It presents a developmental approach to the Olympics which involves vision, trustees and trusteeship and is concerned with capacity building at individual, organisational and societal levels. Thinking of Olympic legacy as capacity building allows seeing the goal of legacy as an embodiment of the aspirations of the Olympic Movement and the Games to introduce radical change in society by transforming its structure. Rethinking Olympic Legacy is essential reading for all students and scholars within an interest in the Olympics, as well as for administrators, policymakers and planners involved with mega-sport events.

How do Olympic legacies come about? This book offers an alternative approach to the study of Olympic and mega-sport event legacy, challenging how legacy is conceptualised and practised. It shifts the focus from legacy as a retrospective concept concerned with what has been left behind after the Games, to a prospective one interested in actions and interactions stimulated by the Games. The book argues that creating Olympic legacy is a continuing four-stage process involving ‘investing’ (the accumulated common Olympic cultural capital), ‘interpelling’ (forming a trusteeship relationship where one party undertakes to change the capacity of another), ‘developing’ (ensuring participation in interactions and resource development) and ‘codifying’ (documenting, sharing and remembering legacies so they become cultural capital). It presents a developmental approach to the Olympics which involves vision, trustees and trusteeship and is concerned with capacity building at individual, organisational and societal levels. Thinking of Olympic legacy as capacity building allows seeing the goal of legacy as an embodiment of the aspirations of the Olympic Movement and the Games to introduce radical change in society by transforming its structure. Rethinking Olympic Legacy is essential reading for all students and scholars within an interest in the Olympics, as well as for administrators, policymakers and planners involved with mega-sport events.

An awesome festival of sporting excellence and competition, the Olympic Games have now evolved into a major international event with great cultural, political, economic and social importance.The Olympic Games Explained is an introductory guide to the history and meaning of the four-yearly phenomenon that is the modern Olympic Games. The book provides a comprehensive overview of ‘Olympism’ from its Ancient Greek origins through the beginnings of the International Olympic Committee to the global Olympic Movement in the twenty-first century.Each chapter offers a range of study tasks and review questions to help students develop their understanding of key concepts in Olympic studies.

This multidisciplinary text is a comprehensive introduction to the central themes and background of the modern Games.The text considers a range of topics including: the ancient Olympicsthe modern revival of the nineteenth century the development of the Games throughout the twentieth century. the media and the OlympicsOlympic marketing and sponsorship.Complemented by a dedicated website offering access to unique archive and other document sources, this book brings its audience the best Olympic educational expertise available.